Transformation of cheaper mangosteen pericarp waste into bioethanol and chemicals

BACKGROUND The cost of biomass feedstock represents a large portion of the total cost of bioethanol production. Therefore, it is necessary to find candidate materials as cheap feedstock for bioethanol production. Mangosteen pericarp waste (MPW) has potential as a feedstock for the production of bioethanol and other valuable chemicals. RESULTS We have developed a new method to efficiently convert MPW into bioethanol and other valuable products such as biosugar, α‐mangostin and γ‐mangostin. The biosugar was obtained from in‐house produced cellulase and pectinase at a 90% conversion rate; the biosugar was converted into bioethanol with 75% yield using separate hydrolysis and fermentation. In addition, the extraction of α‐mangostin increased 1.46‐fold after a combination of popping pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. A copper‐doped magnetic nanomatrix (Cu‐MNM) was utilized to purify α‐mangostin from MPW. We also obtained a good yield of γ ‐mangostin via o ‐demethylation reaction of α‐mangostin. CONCLUSION The value of MPW can be increased through reuse to produce bioethanol and other valuable active materials such as biosugar, α‐mangostin and γ ‐mangostin. We predict that economically beneficial processes could be developed from the reuse of these waste materials. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry